Chapter:two The boy who notices everything.

By December, arguing with Arone had become part of my daily routine.

If we weren’t fighting over mathematics, we were fighting over desk space.

If we weren’t fighting over desk space, we were fighting over pens.

And somehow, no matter how much we argued, we always ended up talking again five minutes later.

“You’re sitting too close,” I complained one morning while opening my notebook.

“We literally share a desk,” Arone replied calmly.

“That doesn’t mean you have to exist on my side too.”

He looked down at the desk thoughtfully.

“You own half a centimeter.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re unbelievable.”

“And yet,” he said while taking out his books, “you still talk to me every day.”

I hated when he said things like that.

Mostly because he always sounded so sure of himself.

Outside the classroom windows, winter sunlight spread softly across the school ground while students slowly filled the corridors with noise. Some girls revised notes before class while others copied homework at the last second.

Meanwhile, I was struggling to solve another algebra problem.

Again.

After staring at the equation for several minutes, I finally dropped my pencil dramatically.

“I give up.”

“You’ve been trying for three minutes.”

“It felt like an hour.”

Arone glanced at my notebook before sighing softly.

“You skipped the formula.”

“I did not.”

“You absolutely did.”

Without asking, he pulled my notebook closer and rewrote the equation neatly beside my messy answer.

I watched him quietly for a second.

His handwriting was annoyingly pretty.

Everything about him was annoyingly neat.

“You’re staring again,” he said suddenly.

I looked away immediately.

“I’m looking at the equation.”

“You’ve been looking at my face for the last ten seconds.”

My cheeks instantly became warm.

“You’re so annoying.”

A small smile appeared on his face.

Unfortunately, he looked very pleased with himself afterward.

That afternoon during break, our classroom became chaotic because someone brought a tiny lizard inside.

Half the girls screamed immediately.

Including me.

“Get it away from me!” I shouted while climbing onto my chair dramatically.

Arone started laughing beside me.

“It’s tiny.”

“I don’t care!”

“You’re acting like it’s dangerous.”

“It moved!”

While trying to escape, someone accidentally pushed past my chair.

I lost my balance immediately.

Before I could fall, a hand grabbed my wrist quickly.

Warm.

Strong.

Steady.

Arone.

For one second, everything around me disappeared.

The noise.

The laughter.

The screaming.

All I could focus on was his hand around my wrist.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

I nodded too quickly.

“Yes.”

But he didn’t let go immediately.

His fingers stayed around my wrist for one extra second before slowly pulling away.

And somehow, that tiny moment stayed in my mind for the rest of the day.

That evening, after classes ended, I stayed behind pretending to organize my books.

Mostly because I knew Arone still had basketball practice.

And somehow...

I had started waiting for him without realizing it.

When he finally returned to the classroom, his hair looked messy from practice and his blazer hung loosely over one shoulder.

“You’re still here?” he asked.

“I had work.”

“You’ve been arranging the same notebook for five minutes.”

I stared at him suspiciously.

“Why do you notice everything?”

He looked slightly amused.

“Because you’re bad at hiding things.”

Before I could answer, cold wind rushed through the open windows.

I shivered immediately.

Without saying anything, Arone stepped closer and pulled one sleeve of his blazer over my freezing hand casually.

“There,” he said calmly. “Stop acting like you’re dying.”

My brain completely stopped working.

Meanwhile, he acted like nothing happened.

Which honestly made everything worse.

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